Former Officer Pleads Not Guilty To Holding Gun To 5 Year Old’s Head

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A former Fort Smith police officer and his wife pleaded not guilty Wednesday to several felony charges after authorities said they fired guns off in their home with children present.

Sequoyah County deputies said Naaman Adcock also held a gun to his five-year-old stepson's head.

Adcock faces charges that include assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a firearm while intoxicated, reckless conduct with a firearm, felonious pointing a firearm and child endangerment, according to the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office.

Adcock’s wife Tabatha also faces charges that include failure to protect a child, child endangerment, possession of a firearm while intoxicated and reckless conduct with a firearm.

Investigators said the incident occurred when the two were drunk and got into a fight last week at their home just off of U.S. 64-B near the Long community.

Their next court appearance is set for June 25.

Naaman Adcock was placed on paid administrative leave after the incident, but was no immediately arrested. He later resigned and was arrested by the Sequoyah County Sheriff's Office.

One of the children inside the home ran to a neighbor’s house for help immediately after hearing the gunshots, dispatchers said. Neighbors then called police, according to authorities.

While on the way to the Adcocks’ home, deputies stopped a blue SUV traveling away from the residence. Driving the vehicle was Tabatha Adcock. When she was questioned about the gunshots, she said that she and her husband had been shooting tires in the yard, and that everything was fine, according to an incident report.

The report states Tabatha Adcock was observed to be visibly upset. She kept wringing her hands and stuttering. The report also states that another deputy questioned Adock’s two children who were also in the car.

Both children stated Naaman Adcock put a gun to the head of Tabatha Adcock’s son and threatened to shoot him, according to the report.

Deputies continued to Adcock’s residence, and when they knocked on the door, Naaman Adcock answered with a gun drawn and pointed it at a deputy. The deputy drew a gun and pointed it at Adcock, ordering him to drop his weapon, the report states.

The report states Adcock asked, “What? Oh really, are you going to shoot me?”

He later gave his gun to the deputies and spoke with them on the porch. He said he and his wife got into an argument, and she left, so he began shooting holes in the walls of his trailer. He said no one was home at the time he started shooting. He did admit to heavy drinking, according to the report.

Deputies entered the home and noticed several bullet holes in the wall. After further questioning of Tabatha Adcock, they found her story changing often, and when the deputies said Naaman Adcock held a gun to the head of Tabatha Adcock’s 5-year-old son, she said, “Yeah, but it wasn’t loaded!” according to the report.

She said that she didn’t want Adcock to lose his job. The children, being interviewed by another deputy, said that Adcock had thrown the 5-year-old son out of the front door before grabbing him by the shirt and pointing a gun to his head, the report states.

Tabatha Adcock and her children eventually were taken by her step-father, and under Sheriff Ron Lockhart’s orders, Naaman Adcock’s guns were seized until he sobered up.

Lockhart said that since Adcock was inside his own home, he was detained but not booked into jail on suspicion of firing off his gun or being intoxicated. He was later arrested and booked into jail.

Sequoyah County authorities said they took Adcock’s guns from his house because he was intoxicated and endangering the safety of others. Those guns have been turned over to Fort Smith police, according to the Sequoyah County Sheriff’s Office.

18 comments

soonerfan

Sarah 1

I agree sooner fan. If her child had passed that night, would she have realized the tragedy of her and her spouses behavior? She lied to protect her husband (to a police officer on the road). As for the guy, no one points a gun unless they mean to kill. If you or I had pointed a pistol at another deputy, we would be locked up.
Why was bond so low and why are they free? They should be behind bars and not together to get their stories straight.

Sarah
More than likely, as a citizen we would of been shot, then questions asked later…The father of the kids is making sure the kids are safe, and other family members and friends. The wife of mr. adcock, is just as guilty as he is, she allowed it to continue through the night, why was the children up at 0230. thank god for the older child to run to the neighbors, and thank god that the neighbor got involved and called the police. to many people turn their backs on family matters, but, this neighbor didnt, Thank you to that neighbor.PRISON for BOTH. no custody rights ever.

No excuses

They are obviously meant for each other. Both a couple of losers. I would be willing to bet that this is not the first time that drunken violence has happened in that home with children present. Hopefully those kids will not have to go back to those two horrible people.
As for people blaming alchohol. From my experience when someone drinks it just brings out who they truly are. That man has no business carrying a gun at work every day if his attitude is that it was OK because it was not loaded. How many times to we hear of someone being shot when the gun was thought to be unloaded.

Alcohol has taken so much from so many! Yet we still romanticize it’s use! People still playing with fire thinking they can dose themselves with this legal,over the counter drug and that they can handle it! It’s made so many people it’s fool! And people will still defend it! Using this drug recreationally. If you think you need a drink, that’s exactly what you DON’T need!
That said,regardless of whether or not this man and woman were good people before alcohol,they don’t deserve to ever have unsupervised visits with these poor little children again and they certainly don’t deserve to ever have custody again! (Was the alcohol worth it?)
Now as for the gun. It didn’t do anything. It was the nut in possession of it. But there will be those that start screaming about how bad guns are! Well, guns aren’t the problem! People are! There’s millions and millions of people with guns that never hurt anyone! And tell me,does anyone believe that this drunk piece of pond scum couldn’t have threatened this child with a knife just as easily? Are we going to start screaming for knife control?
Seems there are several laws that where broken that the man was charged with. Now it is up to the prosecuting attorney and the court to see that this clown gets the maximum penalty on each count and that he doesn’t get out of prison until he’s very old! And the wife deserves jail time too! That would make a lot more sense than what the “gun-grabbers” are going to start ranting about.

Tom

zz, alcohol is no more to blame than the gun is, the misuse of both is to blame. Funny how you say the gun didnt do anything but the alcohol did! You said there are millions and millions of people with guns that never harmed anyone, well there are millions and millions of people who drink that never have harmed a soul either! I keep both at home and never harmed anyone! I do agree with you, it was the nut that went crazy and needs punished to the max!

bobreal

X

Just to think this was a guy who had a gun everyday and was trained on how to use it and he still misused it. Do cops not have to take an intellegence test because this guy seems really dumb. Got to love guns they make any domestic dispute a lot more interesting.

Get Real

As usual, the self-righteous hypocrites can always be counted on to condemn the latest victim before a judge and jury do. Ironic that this “torches and pitchforks” crowd always consists of the same names. Particularly pathetic are the cop haters who are either the first to call for help, or the reason for the call. As one poster illustrated, stupid people do stupid things. They post stupid things also.

Bob Gnarly

@GetReal:

You sound far more like a citizen hater than these posters sound like “cop haters”.

Your reference to this man as a “victim” would seem to indicate that you have already judged him to be innocent and yet in the same post you assert that that decision should be made by a “judge and jury”.

It is obvious that many people are fed up with the special treatment given to people in authority and this “perp” was given special treatment from the start.

I hope that these people want help & get it. The judge needs to put their children in temporary custody of a responsible adult or adults, put them in alcohol rehab, & then have them go to counseling & supervised visits with their kids at first, & then if everything goes well, let them have them for overnight stays, & if that goes well, weekend stays, then if that is good, let them stay for a couple weeks, & then a month, & after a year if no more incidents of drinking or fighting or abuse , let them go back with the stipulation that if it happens again, there will be intervention.

Happy

Question….if a gun is fired inside a home and minor children under 3 are present, is a police report supposed to be filed. Is DHS supposed to be contacted. Even if all adults indicate it was an accident.

I half to agree on what you all have posted. There is no need in me hashing it over. Except that mother ( if you want to refer as one ) is worthless what mother would allow a another man or anyone bring harm or scare tack-ticks to any child at any age !!!! That made me so upset, furious more so toward the mother !!! And than I felt hurt for the children. I hope justices looks past the BADGE and gives Adcock the full punishment. Mrs. Adcock deserves to be punished !!!! The children need to go to a good home where mom can never visit them. She will only bring more harm or another nut into their lives. We all need to pray for these children!!!

Deeply Concerned

Naaman is NOT the father, nor the STEPfather, of these two innocent children. He lived with the mother for a brief time, then married her, but he has no — ZERO — rights to the two children.

As for the BIRTH father, he is doing everything within his power — and sanely and legally — to see to it that his children are protected. Right now, they’re basically in the hands of the State of Oklahoma, and it’s a slow-growing process, but one that must be endured.

As to those who suggest that it’s people who kill, and not their guns… well, this little boy might have tried to escape and, in the process, that gun might have gone off. So guns DO kill. That’s their only purpose — they were designed to kill, period.

What everyone needs to think about is how damaging this is — and may forever be — to these two children’s mental state.

So no… Naaman will NEVER get supervised visitation rights. But there’s their mother to wonder (and worry) about, as she hasn’t yet come to face reality (that she did the wrong thing, and is STILL standing by her man).

Everyone, just please think about the well-being of those two beautiful young chlidren who had absolutely nothing to do with all that insanity, fury and, yes, hatred.

I stand with deeply concerned on each and every point and appreciate the added information. Some of us know parts of the family and above all, care for two young children who should never be subjected to these two without supervision and in the case of Naaman, never at all!

As to the issue of guns, I now live in New Zealand, where I can live without the fear of gun violence.